


be the one to understand

by saekhwa



Category: Hustle Cat
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Inspired by Poetry, M/M, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 12:10:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11646279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saekhwa/pseuds/saekhwa
Summary: The curse is broken, but that's not good news for Hayes.





	be the one to understand

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Poetry Fiction's July prompts challenge](http://poetry-fiction-challenge.tumblr.com/tagged/july-mini-prompts):
> 
> _"But here you are, and I'm happy to see you_  
>  _Though the house is bare and the market, far off."_ — Hồ Xuân Hương

A crash, a break, _and_ a clatter. Landry just sighed at the sound of it, wondering which one of the cats had gotten upstairs and who'd left something up there for them to break. As sweet as most of them were, their free reign sometimes spelled disaster. Well, whoever it was, Landry intended to let Graves know so he could talk with them. 

It… still felt weird to think of it that way, so Landry didn't. He finished putting away his tools and secured the latches on the toolbox before heading upstairs. He wasn't surprised to see Hayes, crouched on the floor, already on top of it. 

"I'll grab the broom," Landry said. He held up both hands when Hayes jumped. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you…"

Usually, Hayes stammered out an okay, but he seemed… frozen. Landry tentatively stepped forward. 

"Hayes?"

Still nothing. He hurried forward, about to grab Hayes' shoulder, but now that he could see Hayes' face, he stopped himself. Hayes' forehead was lined with sweat, his eyes too wide, mouth parted, and now that he was closer, Landry could see how badly Hayes' hands were shaking. 

It was still instinct for Landry to ask _are you okay_ , especially after their faceoff against Nacht, but he caught himself, frozen for a second by his own slip up. 

"Hayes." He couldn't go wrong saying Hayes' name, keeping the sound of his voice gentle and soothing. "We don't have to stay here, okay?"

"I—I—"

When Hayes couldn't manage anything else, Landry reached out, wincing when Hayes flinched. That was dumb of him. Really dumb. It had been a while since Hayes had had a panic attack this bad. Last time was probably… back when Landry first had to tell him about the cat curse? But definitely Hayes' first Jelly Donut day. And a few of the Jelly Donut days that had followed.

Landry swiped a hand down his face, because reminiscing wasn't going to help. He scooted back to give Hayes some breathing room, and then it hit him all at once. What he could do to help. He just hoped it wasn't too late and that he hadn't already made this ten times worse. 

"This isn't going to last," he said as a helpful reminder and a small piece of comfort. "Just breathe with me, okay?"

Hayes gave a jerky nod, his glasses slipping farther down his nose, so Landry slowly inhaled and exhaled, grimacing at how choked Hayes sounded when he tried to match it. Landry shouldn't have assumed it had been the cats up here. If he'd come sooner, Hayes wouldn't be hyperventilating this badly. All Landry could do was breathe in, count three seconds, breathe out, count three seconds, and start over again, keeping an eye on Hayes. When Hayes finally sucked in a sharp breath, Landry grinned, nodding his encouragement. 

"There we go. Yeah, you're getting closer. Keep breathing with me, okay?"

It took a few minutes, but Hayes finally matched Landry's long, deep breaths. He was still shaking pretty badly, still sweating, but breathing on his own was progress. 

"That's good. You're doing good," Landry said, and now that Hayes _was_ breathing, he let himself look Hayes over for any injuries. It didn't look like the broken mug had nicked him anywhere… 

"I—I'm sorry," Hayes whispered, raising his shaking hands. He pushed up his glasses and then grabbed the hood of his shirt and drew it up to conceal as much of his face as he could. Which… wasn't much. Because of his glasses, slightly askew again on his face.

"It—" Landry stopped himself and shook his head at the way he'd almost messed this up again. "I'm just glad you're okay," he said instead. 

It might have still been the wrong thing to say, because Hayes hunched over even more, rocking a little. They sat there, totally silent, but… Landry didn't think it was a bad thing. Hayes seemed okay. Or at least, it seemed like he was on his way to _being_ okay.

After a few minutes, and only because his knees were starting to hurt, Landry asked, "You want to move to a chair?"

Hayes started shaking again. 

Landry held up both hands but then quickly dropped them. "It's okay if you don't. We can stay here, too."

When Hayes shook his head, Landry didn't know what to do. 

"How about…" He kept an eye on Hayes' face as he spoke. "You make us some coffee. Or maybe that tea you like? I can clean this up. Then…" He softly laughed, mostly at himself for losing track of time. Again. "It's actually kind of late. So we should probably head home. How does that sound? Is that plan okay?"

It took a minute, probably Hayes just thinking it all over, but eventually, he nodded. Landry waited for Hayes to make the first move, but when he didn't, Landry hoped it was okay for him to. He stood and offered Hayes a hand up, grinning when Hayes took it. 

Hayes seemed a whole lot steadier when he rose to his feet, but he kept his gaze glued to the floor, face hidden by as much of his hoodie as he could manage. Landry didn't mind. He really was just glad Hayes was okay. 

So while Hayes headed toward the machine, Landry went downstairs, trying to remind himself to let Reese know about the broken mug in the morning. Not that it was a big deal, but Reese liked to log any damages. Something about inventory. A thought which immediately got swept aside when Landry spotted Junta, stretching in the windowsill. 

"Heeeey," Landry said, holding up his hands as he approached. He held one out for Junta to sniff, hoping he'd get a good whiff of Hayes. "I bet you can help out better than I can. What do you say? Want to cuddle with Hayes before we go?"

Junta meowed and bumped his hand, so Landry took that as a yes and scooped him up. With a chuckle, he headed back upstairs. And since no one was around... he set Junta on the table.

"Just this once," he whispered, and winked. 

Junta meowed but didn't jump off, instead licking his paw while Landry swept up the broken mug. 

 

"How'd you get up here?" he heard Hayes whisper, and glanced over his shoulder to see Hayes stroke Junta's back. 

Landry took his time throwing the mug in the trash and putting away the broom and dustpan. When he got back, Junta looked downright blissful, curled in Hayes' lap while Hayes petted him. Hayes looked happy, too, with his small, shy smile. 

It kind of hurt to see it vanish when Landry took the chair opposite him, Hayes' eyes going wide again. 

"Hey, if it's easier, I can drink my coffee downstairs?" Landry offered. 

Hayes glanced down at Junta and then over the balcony and then at a point behind Landry. 

"N-no. It's… It's okay. I… This is nice."

Landry agreed with a nod and was about to sip Hayes' world-renowned coffee but stopped, grinning at the cool foam art. Of course Hayes would still take the time to do it. Landry didn't say a word, though, especially not about it needing more sugar. 

They sat there, drinking coffee, Junta purring in Hayes' lap, everything more relaxed. Landry's thoughts started to wander. There was so much more going on now. He had to build new stuff the cafe, but he also couldn't help but wonder what Reese — and he guessed Avery and Graves, too — might teach everyone about magic next. And just thinking about magic made Landry think of that which that'd cursed him, and that road led straight to Nacht, too. He was gone but… for how long?

"Are… are you done?"

Landry blinked, sheepish as he nodded. "Yep, all done. You, uh. You make the best coffee."

Hayes ducked his head, but Landry caught the hint of a smile as Hayes took away their mugs. He followed Hayes downstairs, where Hayes returned Junta to his favorite spot in the window. As Hayes headed into the kitchen, Landry grabbed his toolbox and then snuck over to Junta. 

"Thanks, buddy," he whispered. 

Junta meowed, and Landry laughed, petting the top of his head before heading down to the basement. 

He and Hayes met up at the front door when everything was put away and washed, all the lights turned off, just a regular close routine. Except… Hayes was still holding himself pretty tightly, his gaze wandering all over the cafe. 

"Is… there anything else I can do? To help out?" Landry asked.

"Turn me into a cat?" Hayes' eyes turned into saucers, and Landry thought he understood what had happened, what had set off Hayes' anxiety. "I—I mean…"

Graves should have given them a better warning about the curse. Or… Landry didn't know. A better heads up about how it would break or when? But then… getting a heads up about a serial killer witch would've been nice, too. 

"I, uh." Landry rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe it's something Graves can teach you?"

Hayes glanced up, startled, but then looked at the floor again. It was his smile, shaky but there, that Landry had to trust. 

"Is it…" Landry frowned, trying to figure out how to say this without sounding creepy. "Can I… Will a hug help?" 

Hayes' eyes went wide again, and he shook his head. "N-no. I…" He shoved his glasses back onto his nose. "I'll… I'll be okay. Um. Thanks?"

Landry smiled. "Sure thing. Ready to go home?"

When Hayes nodded, they headed out the door, their walk quiet and relaxing and — Landry hoped — just what Hayes needed.


End file.
